Facing My Fear For You
by Nat DC
Summary: A shadow-traveling accident causes Will to have to face his biggest fear to save his beloved boyfriend, Nico.


**Hey Guys! Nat here, and sorry I haven't posted in a really long time. Since school is coming to an end I'll probably post way more often from here on out (probably) but here's a quick little idea that came to my head when I was helping my friend think of fanfic ideas ;)**

* * *

 _Nico's **so** going to get it..., _ Will mumbled under his breath along with several other, more colorful, indecipherable threats to his S.O as he made his way to his corresponding terminal at the JFK airport.

Will's heart was pounding and he felt a droplet of sweat trickle down his cheek as he took a sharp turn into Terminal 4. He looked up at the big screen over the clerk's desk and saw that his flight would be boarding in about 30 minutes. He sat down and put his head in his hands trying to process what was going on and what he was about to do.

He thought back to when it all started...

* * *

It was just a normal day at Camp Half Blood.

The sun was rising and people were starting to head to the Mess Hall for breakfast while some others tried to squeeze in some sword fighting or wall climbing before breakfast started. Or, in Will's case, he was called in early to do some cleaning up on an Ares kid who cut his arm on his sword while sparring.

"Thanks for taking care of me on such short notice", the Ares boy said as Will was wrapping a gauze bandage around his forearm.

"No problem", Will said as he caught himself in mid-yawn.

The Ares kid, his name was Rodney, waved to Will as he headed out of the room. Will went around the room cleaning stuff up and putting away the gauze bandages and, as he turned around sluggishly, he was almost given an episode of cardiac arrest as his gosh darn boyfriend appeared in the center of the doctors' office.

Will leapt back in alarm as Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Well _someone's_ on high alert today", Nico said sarcastically as he walked over to peck Will on the cheek.

"It doesn't help that I woke up at 5 in the morning. You know how I am without my morning coffee", Will said, hand to his chest, making sure his heart was still pumping blood (he accepted Nico's cheek-peck).

"So how's my boyfriend on this lovely Saturday morning?", Will said, noting how Nico's expression changed as he used the word "boyfriend".

Nico shrugged, "Fine. Gonna head out to the woods to do some shadow traveling."

Will frowned. He knew Nico was taking time every other day or so to practice his accuracy at his shadow traveling. He knew doing it in a secluded area of the Camp, like the forest, made it all-the-better as well as safer for Nico. Yet, he still had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind whenever his boyfriend let him know that he was headed to practice.

Nico probably sensed Will's hesitation so he added, "Will, chill. I'll only be gone until lunch".

Will nodded, "Alright. Just promise you'll be back by lunch, ok?"

"I will. See ya." And just like that, in a haze of black and dark gray, Nico was gone from the room, vanished.

Will walked out of the doctors' office and gazed up at the rising sun. He put his hands over his eyes to shield him from the bright orange light, while he made his way to the Mess Hall for some breakfast (and most definetly coffee). Will was still tense from that nagging feeling in the back of his mind from Nico's little excursion to the woods. It was the kind of feeling that went off whenever he would see someone about to do something stupid or extremely dangerous (or both) and he felt like Nico's shadow travling practice sessions might get him into some sort of trouble.

Then he shook away his fears. _It's not like he's gonna accidentally shadow-travel himself to France or something.._ Will thought with a small chuckle.

* * *

Boy, was Will wrong.

It was around 12 in the afternoon. Will left the doctors' office to get some lunch at the Mess Hall when he heard someone's voice call him from behind.

"Will! Will!"

He turned around and saw that the voice came from Kayla. She jogged over to him, "Will! I was wondering if I could have back those ambrosia cough drops that I let you borrow the other day? One of the Hermes kids has a real nasty cough".

"Oh! I believe I left them in my cabin! Here stay put, I'll go fetch them."

Will turned on his heals and jogged over to the Apollo cabin. Strangely enough, the cabin was empty. Will's stomach growled.

 _Oh because it's lunchtime,_ thought Will, wishing he had a potato salad right about now. He went over to his side of the cabin and picked up the nearly-full bag of ambrosia cough drops from atop his bedside table. He turned around and was almost given a heart attack the _second_ time that day as a hazy image of a rainy landscape came into view right dead-center in the middle of the cabin.

Will yelped in surprise and he heard a long moan come from the other side of the hazy image.

"Will?.. You there?", said an all-too-familiar voice.

"Nico!? What's happened!? Where are you!? Are you hurt!?", Will said followed by another long moan on Nico's part.

"Ughh I'm...fine, Will. Just got...into a bit of an accident during my...", Nico said in between heavy panting. His breathing sounded very labored and raspy. Will couldn't see Nico however; the place where the Iris message was being held looked chilly and rainy and the message seemed to be faced towards a stone wall.

"Well you don't _sound_ fine! Where are you?", Will said with a worried tone.

"Um...ok don't freak but um...I might've accidentally shadow traveled to Paris...", Nico said mumbling the word "Paris". His breathing was still labored, as if he had actually run the whole way.

" _PARIS!?",_ Will yelled at the rainy image, "Oh my gods, Nico you must be exhausted! Traveling 4,000 miles!" Will couldn't help that his voice was raised, he was genuinely worried for his boyfriend's health; he was surprised Nico hadn't passed out from exhaustion already.

"Will...listen its about 6 o'clock here. I arrived in the parking lot of the Paris Orly Airport. I'll buy some tickets and take a plane back and...", Nico didn't manage to finish, he was still panting hard and his sentence was cut off by a nasty fit of coughing.

"Nico, you're in absolutely NO condition to even walk, let alone catch a flight back to New York!"

"...Well what am I supposed to do!? I can't shadow-travel back...getting... a... plane... is my only... option..", Nico said wearily. He was cut off by a large thud and the Iris message shook violently before refocusing on the stony wall. Only this time, the back of Nico's head was visible in the foreground of the image.

"Nico! Nico! Are you awake?", Will yelled. Will could hear some people outside of the cabin, either coming back from lunch or coming to see where all of the yelling was coming from (or both).

"Ughhh", was Nico's response.

 _Yeah,_ Will thought, _he's totally out of it._

Will continued to yell Nico's name until the Iris message eventually expired and blurred out of view. Will cursed in frustration and stomped out of the cabin.

There were a few people at the door when he came outside and none of them was the person he was looking for. He jogged towards where he left Kayla (near the Mess Hall) and she turned to him with a smile on her face that quickly disappeared after seeing that Will didn't have the cough drops.

"Well if you can't find them I'll just-", said Kayla turning on her heels back to the doctors' office.

"No wait, Kayla!", Will said putting his hand on her shoulder, "I need some help. Apparently Nico shadow-traveled himself to France by accident and he's stranded", Will said quietly trying to keep the information from some of the more nosy campers that were eyeing him and Kayla. He lead her behind the Apollo cabin and explained the predicament in more detail.

Once the story was told, Kayla scratched her forehead and spoke softly and slowly to Will.

"Will, I think the only way to get there is to take an airplane", Kayla said carefully.

Will flinched at the mere sound of the word "airplane". As he retold the story to Kayla, he came to the same conclusion, but hearing it from Kayla made it seem all too real for him.

Kayla knew just as well as most of the other campers of Will's extreme fear of airplanes and anything that involved heights. She knew that he swore (not on the River Styx, thankfully) that he would never go on an airplane for as long as he lived.

But she also knew that this was the fastest and safest way to get from New York to Paris. And so did Will, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Kayla, _please,_ isn't there some other way?", Will said pleadingly to Kayla, trying to keep his voice from cracking with fear. He couldn't lie; he was _terrified._

Kayla shook her head, "I'm afraid not, Will. I can't see any other way you could get there fast enough. I mean it'll still take about 8 hours, but its probably the fastest way to get there..."

Will hung his head in defeat. He sighed long and hard and nodded his head in understanding. She patted him on the back, "It'll be ok Will."

* * *

Thirty minutes had passed when Will looked up to see a wave of people getting up from their seats, taking their luggage and walking over to the clerk's desk to board the airplane. Will was shocked and terrified by how quickly the 30 minutes had gone by and he wondered if the Fates had sped up time just to see Will crack from the fear.

He walked over to get in line and shuffled forward each time somebody went through the metal tunnel that led to the inside of the plane. He thought of the tunnel as a "Point of No Return" Once he went in, there was no going back.

And that thought only heightened Will's fears (pun intended).

Before he knew it, the lady at the desk was extending her hand out for Will's plane ticket. His hands shook violently as he took the ticket out of his pocket and handed it to her. She motioned for him to go inside the "Point of No Return" (as Will saw it) and he reluctantly shuffled his feet forward so he wouldn't hold up the line. He saw people who were behind him go ahead of him as he slowly walked to the end of the metal tubing. A man and his girlfriend, a mother and her two kids and an older man with his daughter.

And again, as if the Fates had somehow sped up time, Will had reached the end of the tunnel and was standing right before the edge where the metal tubing and the entrance to the plane came together. He also noticed that he was the last person to get on the plane. He looked up at the stewardess that was greeting everyone at the entrance of the plane and gave her a pathetic attempt at a smile. She smiled brightly back at him and pushed him forward into the hallway of the plane. People looked up at him in their seats as he walked very slowly down the aisle looking for his seat number (which he had time to memorize when he got his ticket).

Will didn't take any luggage with him (which was probably one of the many reasons why people were eyeing strangely) because he didn't need to. All he took were some ambrosia cough drops (for when he caught up with Nico) and something that Kayla had given him before he stepped out of the bouderies of the Camp and hailed a taxi to come and pick him up.

She had seen how terrified he was so she had jogged over to the Apollo cabin to grab something. When she came back, the taxi driver seemed to be getting tired of waiting for Will to get in, but Kayla had insisted he waited.

"Hold out your hand", she said gently.

Will did so and Kayla placed a small, golden ring in his palm. Will weighed it in his hand; it was somewhat heavy for its puny size.

"What's this?"

"A ring", Kayla noticed Will's confused expression so she explained, "It's magical. It'll help you if you start to panic on the plane. All you have to do is put it on, take a deep breath and the magic should ease your mind".

Will was still hesitant but he didn't want to keep the taxi driver waiting any longer. "Thanks Kayla", he said with a feeble smile. Will shoved the ring into his pocket (the same pocket with the ambrosia cough drops), hopped into the taxi and Kayla waved to him as the vehicle sped out of view.

Kayla smiled to herself. _The power of believing in the ring, whether it has magical powers or not, is magic in itself,_ she thought _, hopefully it'll help Will._

Will remembered this now (minus Kayla's thoughts on the ring) as the seatbelt sign above him flashed red. He fastened his seatbelt and, almost immediately after, the plane started moving, slowly but surely, toward the runway.

 _Take your time_ , Will thought. He tried to get comfortable in his seat, but no matter what position he was in, he was beyond nervous. _At least I'm the only person in this row,_ he thought again, _wouldn't want even **more** strange glances my way if I start hyperventilating_

Before he knew it, the plane started speeding up, up, up and up until Will felt a light, swift movement in his stomach as the plane lifted itself off of the ground and soared above the trees, above the airport and, soon, above New York. Will fought the urge to look out the window and, before his curiosity got the better of him, hastily slid the window-cover down. Unfortunately, he didn't achieve this until he saw a quick glimpse of the plane's surroundings.

They were basically above the clouds at this point, and the sight of being so high up made Will's nervousness sky-rocket (again, no pun intended). His forehead was perspiring, his hands were shaking and his teeth were chattering. His ears were clogged from the sudden lift-off, so the noises around him sounded distant. He suddenly felt a choking sensation from his seatbelt, but he didn't want to take it off because 1. he wasn't supposed to until they were at a certain distance above the ground and 2. because he basically considered the seatbelt a life-line, at this point.

Soon, however, the sign to keep your seatbelts on, turned off and everybody started moving about the plane, either to use the restroom or to walk up and down the aisles to stretch their legs. Will, however, stayed put in his seat, still not comfortable with the idea of walking as if nothing was wrong, while he was 40,000 feet above the sweet, sweet ground.

Will realized with more then a twinge of fear that he would be on this plane for another 8 hours and his eyes started watering from the actual thought of being on this plane for another **minute.**

He remembered the golden ring from Kayla and took it out of his pocket. He put on the ring, feeling no significant sensation coming from it.

 _Oh right, gotta take a deep breath,_ Will thought rolling his eyes to the heavens. He still wasn't totally convinced on the magic of this ring but he humored the situation. _What other choice do I have?,_ he asked himself.

He took a deep, long breath and suddenly felt a little bit better. Not a lot, but it was a start. He started trying to take his mind off of his nerves and looked through the magazines that were tucked away in the back-pocket of the seat in front of him.

He finished one magazine and then grabbed another. Soon, he finished that one and decided to try out the little TV screen that was on the back of every seat. He turned it on and started browsing the music section. He found a soothing piece, hit play and tried to relax. He unbuckled his seatbelt (a real accomplishment for him at the moment) and laid back in his seat. The constant rumbling of the airplane, the music and the position he was in was enough to slowly put him into a dreamless state of sleep...

* * *

When Will woke up, the stewardess that had greeted him at the beginning of the trip was looking down on him with an even more bright smile then the last time (if that was possible).

"Hullo sir. Here's your dinner", she said as she placed a plastic tray full of food on his little table.

"What time is it?", Will asked, getting a hopeful sensation when she mentioned "dinner" (it was a baked potato with chicken, salad and some melon)

"Oh its 6:30 Eastern time", she added with a bright smile, "We'll be landing in an hour or so".

Will's heart lifted as he thanked her and she moved on to the seat in front of him. He devoured his dinner (realizing right away how hungry he was, due to skipping lunch) and watched a movie (about some guy trying to save his best friend from some gang leader).

Soon, the red sign above him flashed red, and Will accordingly fastened his seatbelt. He suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as the plane slowly descended. Will took notice of the better-paced landing (compared to the lift-off) and came to the conclusion that it was probably his nerves that made the lift-off seem so terrifying and abrupt. Speaking of his nerves, Will had kept the ring on all throughout the journey and was astonished by how well it had helped him cope with his anxiety.

 _Good 'ol Kayla,_ Will thought.

Soon, he felt the skidding from the plane's wheels suddenly making contact with the ground and took a breath of relief as the plane was officially on solid Earth.

People started getting up from their seats just as the red seatbelt sign had turned off. They started grabbing their luggage from overhead (which caused a lot of bustling amongst the crowds) and waited in line as the door out of the plane slid open. Will was thankful he hadn't brought anything more then what he needed, as he saw a man struggling to get his luggage due to the crowd that was forming around him.

The line started moving, slowly at first, but quickly as more and more people flooded out of the plane. Will was pretty much carried out, due to the antsy crowd that was behind him but he started to have more freedom in where he went once he was in the tunnel to go inside the airport.

Once he got out of the tunnel, he tried to fight the urge to collapse onto the floor, hugging and kissing it with relief.

 _That would probably earn me some interesting glances,_ Will reckoned.

Instead, he thought about how he was actually going to **find** Nico. Truth be told, Will hadn't actually thought about what he would do once he was at the Orly Airport, simply due to the fact that he was doubtful he would actually make it that far in the journey.

He realized he was on the 3rd floor of the airport, so he took the escalator down to the ground floor. He made his way to the entrance of the airport (it took him a little longer then he wanted, due to the confusing twists and turns of the building) and made his way outside.

It was actually raining when Will stepped outside, which reminded him of the Iris message that Nico had sent him that afternoon. The scenery around the place looked familiar as well. That's when Will remembered that Nico had said he was just outside of the airport. Will's hopes rose as he started looking around the parking lot area. It was fairly dark, partly because of the rain and partly because of the time of day, but Will managed.

What actually alerted Will of his boyfriends' presence was an all-too-familiar groan that came from behind him. He jumped in place, and craned his head to make out a slumped figure in a hidden corner (literally, the figure was hunched over near the corner of the airport).

"Nico!", Will said, a little louder then he wanted it to.

"...Will?", Nico said. He wasn't facing his boyfriend but he'd recognize that worried tone of voice anywhere.

Will scrambled to Nico's side and hugged him with all of his might (which resulted in Nico making more groaning noises which, in turn, resulted in a nasty fit of coughing).

Will suddenly remembered the cough drops in his pocket "Oh here", he said, handing them to Nico. Nico plopped all 3 into his mouth and sighed in relief from the warm, familiar and comforting taste that the ambrosia had given off.

Will sat beside his boyfriend until Nico felt he had the ability to form complete sentences without having to clear his throat.

"So...how did you get here?", he said. Nico was also one of the many people who knew all-too-well of Will's fear of heights and, more specifically, airplanes.

"I took a plane, duh", Will said rather amused when Nico's eyes shot up when Will said the word "plane".

"Really!?", Nico said with an impressed tone to his voice.

"Yeah", Will said with a shrug, "It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be".

Nico allowed himself a thin smile. "You really faced your number 1 fear for me?", Nico asked softly.

"Of course I did", Will said in an even softer tone of voice, "And I'd do it again...actually nevermind I wouldn't. Don't _ever_ scare me like that again!" Will added quickly.

Nico's smile widened. He started to slide his back up against the wall for support as he tried to stand up. Just as he pretty much reached his full height, however, his legs gave way under him as he sank back to the ground.

Nico groaned again from the energy it took to stand up. "Ugh, how are we gonna get home? I can't even stand up."

"What? Were you thinking we would shadow-travel home?", Will asked.

"Of course not! I'm done with shadow-traveling for a while...", Nico said, "But still...how are we gonna get a flight back home?"

Will turned his head towards Nico, and met his eyes with a devilish smile.

"No.", Nico said simply, "You will not. No, no, no."

Will's smile widened, "Got any better ideas?"

Nico stared at him for a good minute until he finally gave in.

"Fine", Nico said with a sharp edge to his voice.

* * *

Will carried Nico around the airport until they were eventually on the plane back home. Luckily, there were some empty seats on the returning flight back to New York City so the two wouldn't have to stay the night in Paris (which, Will thought, probably wouldn't have been so bad).

By the time the two boys were on the plane they were both exhausted; Will from carrying Nico around everywhere (though the boy didn't weigh much) and Nico from the actual embarrassment of being carried by Will.

They slept soundly as the plane took off, not even realizing that their hands were clasped together. Though Nico had noticed that Will was still wearing his ring...


End file.
